John Dickerson
Excited journalists are salivating at the idea that the events of this week could be the beginning of the end for Donald Trump. On Thursday, the New York Times predicted that Republicans were doomed. On Friday, CBS This Morning co-host Norah O’Donnell intoned, “The President’s isolation grows.”
In the aftermath of the Charlottesville attack, two of the Big Three Networks (ABC and NBC) were quick to cast blame on President Trump for the violence and the lives lost on Sunday. To round out the Big Three, CBS brought up the rear during Face the Nation where guest Jamelle Bouie argued that if one was looking for the “roots” of the attack, “you don’t have to look very far from the White House.”
The Establishment, a construct of Democrats and Republicans that rules in Washington no matter which party controls government, appears to be over its fainting spell following Donald Trump's election. It is now throwing everything at him from a daily -- make that hourly, even minute by minute -- onslaught of investigations to big media's equivalent of Molotov cocktails.
CBS This Morning journalists on Thursday defended the practice of leaking from officials inside the White House and said that investigations cracking down can lead to “terror” inside an administration. Talking about efforts by Anthony Scaramucci to eliminate the leaks, John Dickerson explained, “The problem with leak investigations in all past White Houses is that it clamps down on people inside of the White House. It creates an atmosphere of a little bit of terror.”
The Sunday network morning shows were filled with discussion of the health care bill recently released by Senate Republicans on Thursday. That discussion was loaded with fake news about the bill drastically slashing Medicaid, which was being pushed by the program moderators. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos actually yelled at Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway because she refuted it. Meanwhile, on the other networks, GOP Senators were embarrassing their hosts by educating them on what the bill actually did to Medicaid.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, where he was grilled in regards to the Russia investigation. Sessions drew criticism from many by appearing to be evasive on some questions in regards to his communications with President Trump. This did not sit well with CBS Evening News, where Anchor Scott Pelley chided that “today, the attorney general was more measured [than Trump], even though he declined to answer some of the most revealing questions.”
One of the largest revelations to come out of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s public hearing with former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday was that President Trump was not under investigation. That fact didn’t seem to sit well with CBS’s John Dickerson when he appeared during CBS News Special Report after the hearing. Almost desperately, Dickerson tried to argue Trump had to be under scrutiny, “So, a President who was once concerned about not being under investigation those actions he took may now, in fact, make him under investigation.”
Friday morning the big three news networks tore into President Trump for his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord yesterday. Though the move was praised by conservatives, the networks solely reported from the left’s perspective, touting rebukes from radically liberal politicians in the U.S. and globally. Not only that, but the networks went a step further, fretting that Trump’s decision put the U.S. behind in leadership and in respect
It only took moments for NBC and CBS to trash President Trump’s decision on Thursday to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, relying on immediate denunciations from Barack Obama and Al Gore. During special coverage following the President’s Rose Garden address announcing his decision, anchors on both networks promptly recited statements from the two Democrats.
House Republicans and President Donald Trump took a large step in their efforts to repeal and replace the failing ObamaCare system on Thursday. In a very tight vote, Republicans passed their health care legislation and handed the bill off to the Senate. “But lawmakers voted without the final bill ever being scored, as they say in Washington,” announced ABC Anchor David Muir at the start of World News Tonight, “Meaning they voted without knowing how many fewer Americans would be insured, some predict tens of millions.”
Seconds after the Republican House of Representatives finally passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), CBS News did their best on Thursday to tout Democratic concerns, pro-ObamaCare protesters, and hypocritically chide Republican supporters for not being “modest” in their massive legislative achievement.
On Tuesday's New Day on CNN, during a discussion of President Donald Trump ending his interview with John Dickerson when the CBS host started pressing him about his claims that President Barack Obama had ordered wiretapping against him, liberal CNN political commentator Paul Begala lambasted Trump as someone who makes a worse President than a dog would make.